Actress Felicity Huffman has opened up about her position in a college admissions scandal that landed her in federal jail, telling CNN affiliate KABC that “it felt like I had to give my daughter a chance at a future … which meant I had to break the law.”
The Emmy-winning Desperate Housewives star was amongst 33 rich dad and mom arrested in Operation Varsity Blues and accused of conspiring to get their youngsters into college.
She was accused of paying $US 15,000 (approx. $22,500) to the rip-off’s mastermind to boost her daughter’s SAT scores. She pleaded responsible to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and sincere providers mail fraud.
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“And I know hindsight is 20/20 but it felt like I would be a bad mother if I didn’t do it,” Huffman advised KABC on Thursday. “So – I did it.”
Huffman advised KABC she is ashamed of what she did, and she or he apologised to “the students and the families that sacrifice and work really hard to get to where they are going legitimately.”
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“And I know hindsight is 20/20 but it felt like I would be a bad mother if I didn’t do it,” Huffman advised KABC. “So – I did it.”
Huffman was sentenced in September 2019 to 14 days in jail, a 12 months of probation and 250 hours of neighborhood service. She was fined $US 30,000 (approx. $44,997.75).
Her husband, actor William H. Macy, was not charged.
Admissions marketing consultant Rick Singer was sentenced in January 2023 to three 1/2 years in jail and ordered to forfeit $US 10 million (approx. $14,999,250) for receiving cash from dad and mom to inflate check scores and bribe college authorities.
Huffman mentioned she had second ideas as she drove her daughter to take the check.
“She was going, ‘Can we get ice cream afterwards? I’m scared about the test. What can we do that’s fun?'” Huffman mentioned. “And I kept thinking, turn around, just turn around. And to my undying shame, I didn’t.”
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Promoting ‘A New Way of Life’
Huffman carried out her neighborhood service with a non-profit organisation referred to as A New Way of Life. It helps ladies who’ve been incarcerated with housing, clothes and job coaching.
“Well, I thought we would bring her in and put her at a desk and have her work in the office. And she said, ‘No, I want to do real work,'” founder Susan Burton mentioned. “She went jogging down Central Avenue in South LA and created exercise classes for the women.”
Huffman additionally helped the group organise its donations, Burton mentioned. She has now joined the organisation’s board of administrators.
“I want to use my experience and what I’ve gone through and the pain to bring something good, which is to shine a light on the organisation,” Huffman mentioned.
“Felicity Huffman is one of the most beautiful people I’ve met in my lifetime,” Burton mentioned. “And I know she has had a hiccup. But it’s not the hiccup – it’s how you come through the hiccup.”
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CNN has reached out to a consultant for Huffman for additional remark.
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